Waking up early the next day, I couldn't really sleep all that much. As expected, I was a tad too excited so I was kind of groggy. Nothing too bad, but it's really not the proper way to start a mission. On the other hand, the others were pretty alright. Mom and dad were still in bed, though then again it's not like they have any obligations to see us off.
"You guys are already dressed?" I rubbed my Eyes, "Geez, so was I the only one worrying after all?"
"Well, Aru's coming along, so..." Issei chuckled, "Basically, it's like that. The Goddess' favor and all that makes it so we don't have to worry about dying at all."
"Just because you've got my favor doesn't mean you should test your luck with recklessness." Aru warned, "Besides, we have no way of confirming if you're affected by it. Remember, I can't read into you because you're not from this world, so what if the same rule applies to the favor system as well?"
"Even still, isn't it logical to always be on guard in these types of situations?" Othelia looked worriedly at Issei, "Don't go making me worry, dammit."
"Haha, yeah, of course!" He scratched his head with his tongue stuck out, "I'll be sure to come back in one piece."
"Good." She smile before hesitating a bit, "U-Uhm..."
"Oh?" Issei was surprised to see her suddenly give him a hug, "Othelia, this is kinda embarrassing, y'know?"
"Yeah." She kept going for at least 3 more Mississippis, "Please, take care of yourself."
"...Yeah." He stood there and took it like a champ.
"You sure you don't wanna come along, Lovestruck?" Cecily teased, "I'm sure Issei would appreciate it as well."
"No, I'm alright." Othelia finally stopped hugging him, her face bright Red as she continued with an ahem, "That was just a good luck hug."
Hearing this adorably sweet sentence come out of Othelia's mouth, everyone's immediate reaction was to turn to Issei and see what his reaction was. As to be expected he was all bashful as well, looking away and hiding his flushed face as much as he could, but apart from that he was oddly quiet. Of course, I was the only one who could read minds out of us, so only I saw the fireworks going off full-throttle in his brain.
"I-In any case, we should get going." Issei went to the front door, "Don't wanna keep the king waiting."
"Trust me, he doesn't mind." Aru smirked as she apparently saw what the king was doing with her omniscience, "Actually, I'm pretty sure he'd be more pissed if we got there early. The queen would sure like a break, though."
"Ha-ha..." Cecily realized, "I'll bet..."
"In that case, we have time for coffee." Anna proposed with slightly pink cheeks.
"Why's that?" Eleanor tilted her head as everyone else in the room got the memo but her.
"W-Well, it's like..." Anna tried explaining it in a roundabout way.
"The king and queen are, well, married, y'know?" Cecily too beat around the bush.
"They fuggin." Issei didn't spare a second as he told it how it was, "Plain and simple."
"I-Issei!" Othelia blushed.
"A-Ah." Eleanor winced, "I-Is that so... Yeah, no wonder then..."
"Come on, it's not the end of the world!" Issei refuted, "The dude's found out his wife is pregnant, so he's probably trying to get the most out of it while he still has time."
"Normally, I'd just call you a stupid pervert with gutters for brains, but I think you're actually right this time." I made an odd face, "That guy, well, let's just say it wasn't the first time I interrupted them. Back when we asked for their help in the war effort, he tried to keep the negotiations as short as he possibly could. Nothing stands in the way between that guy and his wife."
"Damn, now I kinda wanna go and interrupt him on purpose." Issei gave a smug grin, "Whaddya say, Ed? Wanna cockblock that guy for shits and giggles?"
"That is so horrible, I love it!" Aru wholeheartedly agreed to his ploy.
"If by horrible you mean inappropriate!" Othelia tried dissuading them, "Seriously, it's one thing to do it accidentally, but now that you know, shouldn't you at least respect their privacy?"
"Nah, not at all." I gave her a deadpan reply as we left the house, "Let's go, guys!"
"Muahaha! Lowly king, your days of non-stop breeding are over!" Aru proudly announced, "Mark my words, your wife will be spared of your co-!"
"That's enough!" Issei and I shut her up before she could finish that statement.
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"...Morning." A sweaty and annoyed Adam greeted us at the front entrance, "You guys came early."
"And you didn't." Aru shot at him with finger guns, making the situation even more awkward.
"Well, I guess it is almost time to depart anyways, but you didn't really have to rush that much." He checked the time once more just to make sure, "The situation might be kind of dire, but half an hour's difference is hardly gonna matter on this mission."
"You never know. By starting half an hour earlier, we'll logically end half an hour earlier." Issei reasoned.
"If anything, this half an hour is just enough time for you to take a shower and get dressed." I suggested, "We'd rather wait than have to put up with that smell."
"Ah, I see you're talking about the musk of man?" He proudly flapped his boxer briefs to spread the smell as much as he could, though we ran away before it got to us.
"God, just get dressed and come out here, you damned stinkin' king!" Aru shouted.
"Fine, fine..." He turned around to do as he was told, "Wait there, then. I'll be with you shortly."
This guy, he just doesn't know when he joke is going too far. That, or he's being dead serious with that "musk of man" bullshit. Seriously, how can he like being all sweaty and putrid? It's a damned mystery to me. Then again, I did hear that most nobles have really depraved kinks and fetishes, so it kind of checks out, I guess. Well, now that we're stuck waiting for this guy to come out, I figured sitting down under the nearby tree of the estate wouldn't hurt. It's weird how there are no benches anywhere, but I guess the people living here are a busy bunch.
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"This tree..." Issei donned a complicated look on his face once he saw me sitting under it.
"What's the matter?" I contemplated reading his mind, but ultimately gave up on the idea.
"Hm? Oh, nothing! It's just..." He rushed to find an answer, "That's a walnut tree, isn't it? I heard it's not good to sleep under them."
"He didn't say he was gonna sleep though." Aru groaned, "I don't know why sleeping under walnut trees is considered "bad" in your world, but at least in ours, it's harmless."
"It's just something I heard online. No need to look too deeply into it." Issei sat down as well, albeit with a melancholic face, "That's not it. I don't care about walnut trees, but this tree here... It holds some memories, for sure."
"Memories? So you knew Adam even before, then?" I asked.
"No, well, kinda." He tried to start from the beginning, "See, Marina worked as a maid in this mansion, and her and Lune were... yeah."
Oh, I see. The three of them were friends, and Marina worked under Adam. Right, she went by Mariabelle back then, I remember. Damn, I should've asked Grim to tell me more about this time, I would have known more about it now, but instead I have to rely on Issei's retelling.
"We robbed this place and killed two of Adam's guards." Issei whispered just audibly enough for the two of us to hear, "We used this tree to get in and out."
"Oh." I cocked my head back.
Never mind, I doubt Grim would have told me this part at all! Geez, what the hell was going on back then? So Grim was violent even back then? That must've been during his time as the Famed Inventor, otherwise there's just no way someone like Grim would have done such horrible things. Hm? But hold on...?
"Why the hell would you even do that?" I inquired.
"Long story short - seller's remorse." He shrugged.
"That's one hell of an abbreviation." Aru chuckled, "But I see now. If I recall correctly, Lune Grimheart was the one who invented the AFP, and sold the blueprint to Adam. Shortly after though, he realized Adam wanted to mass produce it for war reasons, so he infiltrated the place and stole back the blueprints. Shame Adam had already started selling his own ones by that point."
"Damn, so all that trouble was for nothing?" I turned to a disappointed Issei.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Issei rubbed the root of the large walnut tree, "Still, we did our best, I have no regrets."
"I see, so you were there with him too." Aru looked on, "In the vision of that event that's playing back in my head, I do see another shadow person, but I couldn't have possibly known it was you."
"Another shadow person?" I recalled her words previously, "Do you think he's related to the shadow person you saw yesterday? The guy behind this whole animal fiasco?"
"Hmm, no clue, but they do seem to have the same "shadow effect" to them." She tried to describe it as best as possible, "It's possible this guy we're looking for is another person who came from Issei's universe."
"You think?" Issei thought about it some more, "Geez, now I'm even more excited to meet this guy. Just having another person who understands my predicament would help me immensely."
"You sure? Then you'd have to travel all over the world again with him in order for the both of you to go back." I chuckled.
"Nah, I'll just leave all my money from this world to him. It's probably enough to at least make it most of the way there, but I certainly won't be waiting around any longer than I need to." Issei immediately denied all responsibility for this guy.
"Smart move. Mortals need to fend for themselves, and even just getting him most of the way there with your travels' leftover money is more than enough." Aru nodded.
"But damn, I wonder where he's from...?" He thought about it happily as he looked up at the sky, "My world, it's so much larger than this one. Well, maybe not the world, per se, but there's so much more diversity, for better or for worse. It's got more countries, more cultures..."
"More problems?" I figured, "More countries means more people dividing themselves into sides. This is usually something Grim would point out, but the Grandmaster Adventurer Schnell Douglas believed in a world of unity. The reason behind why there's so little countries is because he knew this and begged the leaders of his time to not divide the people too much."
"Divide the people, huh?" Aru thoughtfully looked up as well before realizing something, "Wait, Schnell Douglas?"
"Yeah, what's the matter?" I turned to her.
"There's no-" She went to say something, but a buff knight's shadow stepped in front of her.
"Sorry, we just sat down here to evade the sunlight!" I got up immediately, thinking this guy to be one of the guards of the estate.
"Hm? No, I don't mind." The buff knight took off his helm, revealing the king inside it, "Rather, shall we get going?"
"Pff." We all cracked up from the surprise, "Phahahahahaha! What the hell are you wearing!?"
"Huh? W-Well, if we are going into battle, then..." He felt kind of stupid for wearing so much protection, which reminds me...
"Dude, how about instead of putting on body protection, you think of your wife and use-!"
"What's that about me?" Elaine loomed over and behind me from the window above, scaring me shitless in the process, "I'll have you know he doesn't need either, but I do agree you can never be too safe, Edward."
"R-Right on! Protection is the best in every situation!" I tried desperately to save face as I rushed everyone out of the estate, "C-Come on now, guys! The damned wagon is waiting!"
"Oh, right." Adam happily waved to his wife, "See you soon, dear!"
"Good luck!" She returned the gesture with a bright smile.
What the hell, that woman can make such a genuine smile? THAT woman!? Ugh, I haven't started an adventure on such a bad note since... Well, since Grim and I first left Whitehood, actually. What is it I said back then? Ah, right.
"Screw it, the adventure begins." I sighed as we all sat down in the wagon.
"Why so pessimistic?" Adam asked.
"Shut up."